Thursday, July 12, 2007

Green Ministers adopt 3 wise monkeys approach to Govt

To date, the Greens have brought a us new form a laid-back Government and on RTE's Morning Ireland we’ve just had another instalment from Minister John Gormley.

When asked about Finian McGrath’s deal re Dublin Port - he responded with a question: has RTE asked Finian about it?

Gormley claims to know nothing about whatever arrangement was agreed between the Taoiseach and McGrath on this important topic. It doesn’t seem to strike him as odd that he doesn’t know, and it clearly hasn’t occurred to him that he should ask anyone, especially the Taoiseach, to put him in the picture. Surely the Taoiseach should have briefed the cabinet on any material matters he agreed in his deals with the independent TDs, items which clearly will impact on the work of various Departments?

Given that(a) part of Dublin Port is in the minister’s own constituency(b) there’s a proposal to extend the port by reclaiming about 50 acres of sea(c) it’s PD policy (a partner in Govt) to move Dublin Post altogether to Bremore. (d) either of the above proposals have potentially major consequences for the “environment” of Dublin City you'd imagine that Minister Gormley might wish to keep himself informed about port-related developments.

So far, the Green ministers seem to be keeping their heads down and their mouths shut in Cabinet/ Government. This 3 wise monkeys approach may well keep their cabinet colleagues happy for the moment, but I doubt it’s impressing the electorate.